What Are Friends For
by freshwater1996
Summary: What if Beca wanted to go to Barden, but not for her dad but her best friend, Stacie Conrad. Stacie and Beca knew each other through mutual friends in high school, but became best friends after a drunken mistake one night. Beca really never had stability, so when she is given the chance to be that stability for someone else, Beca jumps at the chance.


**A/N: So I asked for opinions on story idea, and was very happy to see people wanted to read it. A special thanks to **_**50 Shades of Pitch Perfect **_**for your kind words. I am still very new to the whole fanfic world and having such talented people believe in my work "gives me such a rush" :). **

**Well I hope you guys enjoy this.**

**Beca's Pov...**

Its a warm June night, the seniors had their last day of High school yesterday. They will be graduating later this week. Tonight is the annual "Forget Me Bonfire", its an unofficial Point Park tradition, the seniors throw a party to celebrate the last year of high school, and to welcome the juniors to their senior year. For me, the only thing I am looking forward to is graduating and being able to move to L. A. And get my name out there in the music scene. I normally wouldn't be here right now, but one of the jocks offered me $200 to DJ for the night. So here I am standing on this makeshift stage on the beach. I love it up here, I have total control over everyone's mood for the night. I can choose to put on some sappy love song and make everyone cry, or I can put on a song that we haven't heard in almost a decade and hit everyone with a wave of nostalgia or, I could play some really upbeat music then runs straight through everyones ear right to their hearts. The kind of music that pumps through their veins and makes everyone feel alive. That is why I love music, no matter what mood you are in, you can hear the first beats of a song and everything changes.

I go to take a swig of my drink and notice it is almost empty, so I get ready to get more. My attention is directed to the center of the dance floor. I look up and see a tall leggy brunette who has clearly had too much to drink. She is laughing at a joke some senior boy said, and having the time of her life. All the surrounding boys are gracing her with their attention as she dances, and she is loving it. Her name is Stacie Conrad, she moved here halfway through the year last year and quickly made friends. I have met her a few times before when hanging out with some mutual friends, but I don't know much else about her. I do know that she puts herself forward as some kind of slut, but I am not entirely sure that is really who she is. I mean yeah, she always has some boys chasing after her, and right now there are at least 3 boys hanging all over her and ogling her as she dances, but I can see past it. I can see the pain in her eyes, I can see it because I know pain. I may not know the cause of her pain, but i know it is there. Where there should be a shine I her eyes as she smiles, there is hurt. Like me she uses a front to hide her true self and her pain.

I queue up about 20 minutes of music so I have time to go pee and get a drink and maybe something to eat. I am pushing my way through the dancers and I hear some kind of commotion, I turn my head to see some of the boys trying to coax Stacie into the nearby house. After a few minutes of her refusing the boys decide to just get her another drink. I walk to the bar and make myself a rum and coke. I get distracted by someones conversation, they are talking about the new Kanye West song. I turn my head in disgust as one of them says "Whoever this Paul McCartney is better appreciate Kanye and all this attention he is getting."

I walk back to my computer to change up my playlist. I continue to play new age music that everyone will know. Everyone is enjoying the night and having fun dancing. There is only about a half an hour left of my paid time and still no one has spoke to me, and this is just the way I like it. I queue up the last songs to play and make sure I have "Band on the Run" queued up as the last song. As the last few people are dancing I decide to take my unnecessary equipment back to my car. I am walking to the Jeep Wrangler with a crate of cds and as I pass through the kitchen I stop. _Is that moaning? Of course, someone is shaggin' up for the last time as a senior._ I drop the crate off at my Jeep and go back through to grab some more stuff. The third time through the kitchen the moaning has stopped. I go back outside just in time for the last song. Everyone is having a great time and they all start yelling as the final song comes on, the air is filled with, "Oh my god I havent heard this song in forever!" Or "This song is great, such a classic." Once the song is finished playing I walk up to the mic and make sure to look at the kids from earlier and say "Now that my idiotic children, is the Great Paul McCartney." With that I walk back through the kitchen with my laptop and mixing board. Since the moaning has stopped I am surprised by the fact that i am met with sound as I pass the occupied door. I get closer and discover the sound is muffled crying, I knock on the door to see if whoever I there is okay.

The crying stops when I knock, "Im fine, you can go away."

I recognise the voice as that of Stacie Conrad. I know I should just listen to her and leave, but I can hear it in her voice. She doesn't want to face anyone, but she doesn't want to be alone either. So I decide to try the door handle, thankfully it unlocks. I walk in to find her on the floor by the bed crying into her knees. She has on a bra and panties, but she is still covering herself up with the blanket. I crouch down beside her and carefully put my arm around her. She quickly just melts in to my side in a fit of sobs. I try to shush her and begin rubbing slow circles on her back. After a good five minutes she finally calms down, she picks her head up to look at me, "You're Beca, Beca Mitchell aren't you?"

"Yeah, the one and only." I smirk, silently hoping my crass humor is taken well.

"Oh, well arent I lucky?" She jokes. "Thanks for being here, you don't even know me, I am fine now, you can go. Its okay, really I am fine." She insisted, tearing up again.

"Yeah, its okay. And if you don't mind, I would rather stay, you look like you could use a friend." I smile hoping i am not overstepping any boundaries. She simply nods silently allowing me to stay. I sit with her in silence for about ten minutes before I speak up again. "Did the- can I ask did somebody-" she quickly cut off my stumbling.

"No, I was okay with it, it was Mattie Lockhart. I have had a crush on him and I guess he and his friends knew. Well he said he liked me too." Stacie sobbed into her hands. "I just really liked him, and he seemed so different. He said he wanted to ask me out all year but was too afraid. He thought if he didn't say anything now he would have missed his chance. He was being so sweet. God I am so stupid!" Stacie cried.

"Hey, you are not stupid. You are a smart girl, love just got in the way. It happens to the best of people."

"I bet you think I am a slut, everyone does. But I'm not, I was a virgin until tonight. God I thought he was different." Stacie began crying again.

"I don't think of you as a slut, I can see past it. Can I ask you, why do you portray yourself like that." I ask hoping that I am not overstepping any boundaries.

I can see her struggling to decide if she should tell me, so I quickly add, "I mean if you want to, I could just drive you home. I don't think it is safe for you to drive right now."

"No that's okay, I don't really feel like being at home."

I can see that she really doesn't want to be alone right now so I offer, "Well we could just drive around, I don't mind. Plus you look like you need someone to talk to." I offer a smile silently hoping she will accept my offer.

"Yeah, okay that would be good." She responds getting up.

Seeing the state of undress she is in I decide to give her a minute, "I will go put my laptop and mixing board, in the car car. You can get dresses and I will meet you in the kitchen, sound good?"

"Yeah, I will see you out there."

**10 Minutes Later**

"Okay, my car is the Blue Jeep Wrangled over here." I say pointing to my car. We get in and I begin driving, nowhere in particular, just anywhere. We it in the car, not talking just watching the road. I decide to put in a CD so it isn't so quiet, Even though the quiet isn't awkward, I can tell Stacie needs a distraction from tonight. We drive for a while just listening to the songs coming through the speakers. I can see her fidgeting in the corner of my eye, I reach to turn down the volume, "Are you ready to talk now?"

"Yeah, I guess. I just-it's just hard for me to talk to people. I mean like really _talk._"

"Yeah, I get what you mean. As you probably know I am not that social, but I am a great listener. So I am all ears." I want her to know she can talk to me, but not force her into it. Hopefully this worked.

"Yeah, I have just come to learn that people don't really like to listen if your story isn't interesting."

"Well, I am not,one,of those people. I always listen. So do you want to tell me what happened tonight?"

"Well, as you know I have liked Maddie for a while now. I guess his friend knew, so they bet him to sleep with me. I thought he really liked me. I am such an idiot, this is my own fault."

"Hey, you never asked for this. This isn't your fault, how could you even say that?" I say trying to talk some sense into her.

She surprised me when she begins laughing, " Well, it is my fault if you think about it. I acted a certain way, I dressed in certain clothes to get the attention, and I said yes. Its my own stupid fault. I liked him, and I did think he was lying when he Said he liked me. I said yes and now I am just some piece of ass in their stupid game."

"What you did tonight may have been consensual, but what those boys did is not your fault. Okay?" I try and convince her, but what she said keeps sticking in my mind. "What did you mean you act and dress a certain way for attention? I mean, you are a really pretty girl, you don't need to dress like a slut for people to think you are pretty." I look at her as she wipes away tears.

She turns to me and I can see in the furrow of her brow this is serious, "My dad is in the military, so we moved around a lot. When you are younger it is easy to make friends, but when you start middle school that is then kids get mean. I was in 6th grade and we had move again, when I started at that school, I would come home and cry everyday for a month because nobody would talk to me I don't think any of them knew my name. So as we moved around, I tried out different personalities and found the one that works best. I was in 9th grade I think, and I realise the best way for people to notice you was to gossip with all the girls, and flirt with all the boys so that's what I do. You see my dad is really important at his job, so he is never really home and when he is the nicest thing her and say To Me is my name, if he remembers that. My mom, well she doesn't handle the whole army wife thing her greatest, so she turns to her favorite men, Jack Daniels and Captain Morgan. I just wanted someone to notice me." I can see she is crying again so I pull the car over, luckily we were coming up on a playground. I decide to get out, but before I do,I turn on the stereo and headlight. We are now just sitting on the swings listening youth e night, and the faint noises of a mix of mine.

"You don't need to act like that for attention. I know this might not help, but you don't need to. Just being you should be enough, if it isn't then that isn't the attention you want, or need." She doesn't respond,but I can see a slight smile form on her lips. We just sit there for a while before she speaks.

"How did you get into music?" Not a question I expected right now, but I answer it just as an attempt to get her mind off tonight. "I am not sure when exactly it happened it just did. One day I heard this song, and I mean I really heard it. I didn't just bop my head to the beat, but I listened to the l lyrics. They spoke to me, honestly I can't even remember the song, but I remember the music. That was the day I realised the power that music held. Ever since, I has been my life."

"Well you at really good." I laugh at this comment.

"Thanks."

"By the way you have really good taste in music, not like people now a days who think Jay Z and Miley have really meaningful songs."

"How do you get that, at the party that carp was all I played?" I ask slightly confused, I expected her to be a huge Miley Cyrus fan.

"Your mixes, the ones on the cds, they have some great bands. I mean Nirvana, Jack's Mannequin those are some meaningful writers." She slyly smiles.

Amazed I ask "You know who Andrew McMahon is? Nobody ever knows who he is."

"Yeah, have you heard is new single Cecilia and the Satellite?"

"Oh my God yes! That song makes me cry, I wish when I have kids my husband does something that sweet." Our conversations go on for a while, from movies to music, to idiotic YouTube videos. It is now close to 2 a.m. and we have somehow made our way back into the car and in front of Stacie's house. I turn to her and say "I had a lot of fun tonight, see and you never once tried to flirt with me." This comment makes her laugh as she gets out of the car.

"I had fun too. See you around?"

As I pull away I can't help but wonder if we will really be friends come school next year.

**A.N. So here it is. Tell me what you guys think. I am really happy with where I want to take this. My other story on the other hand is causing me some problems. You should all go check it out. Its called Making it Through, its a Bechloe story. **


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